A Father & a Mother (Remix)
by lizandletdie
Summary: A remix of A Mother and a Father wherein Arthur Gold discovers his son when the child as an infant, and his relationship with foster mom Belle French goes a lot differently than last time. How much influence should he allow a stranger to have in his son's life, and would she even be interested in remaining the boy's mother if it means sharing a child with him?
1. Chapter 1

anonymousnerdgirl on Tumblr wanted to know what would happen if Gold found out about Bae when he was a baby, so this is what happened. This is set sometime in January and features 23 year old Belle, 38 year old Arthur, and 4 month old Bae.

* * *

"I don't understand," the woman – more a girl, really – was whispering to Ruby the social worker. "He's happy here with me."

"I know, Belle," Ruby said to her. "But you knew it was only fostering when I asked you to take him. He has a dad, he'll be okay."

Gold pretended not to notice that the tiny brunette holding his child had tears in her eyes as she stared down at the baby in her arms and for a moment he felt like the monster in a fairy tale come to rip a babe from the arms of its mother, but he squashed that image as soon as it came. He wasn't Rumpelstiltskin come for her first born, this was his child whose mother had stolen him away and then left him in a hospital saying she couldn't be a parent anymore. This young woman hadn't had the baby for more than a few months, and she was young and pretty (though in a desperate need of some sleep and a shower). She could have children of her own – Bailey could very likely be his last chance at fatherhood.

Ruby was pushing her towards him now and he saw her shaking just a little as she gingerly held his son out to him. For a moment, he wasn't sure what to do but then his senses returned and, hooking his cane over his arm, he reached out to take the small bundle in the tiny flannel blanket. Belle was sobbing as he took the baby from her and Ruby pulled her into a hug. He barely noticed them, though, his entire focus was on this child – his son, his firstborn – who he now cradled in his arms.

The baby was beautiful, pink and well-fed and gurgling despite the tears coming from the woman who had been caring for him. Gold's breath caught in his throat when the baby looked up at him – his son had his eyes. Bailey reached out a hand and grabbed Gold's nose and he couldn't contain the smile on his face. This was everything he'd ever wanted.

It took him a moment to realize that Belle French was talking to him again.

"You'll need to give him a bath before bed," she sniffled and he knew he should be trying to retain some of this information but he was holding his son for the first time and whatever she had to say was so much less important than the baby in his arms.

"It calms him down," she continued. "I also read to him afterward and then he gets a bottle and then bed and..." she swallowed a sob. "Swaddling works okay, but if you sing to him that seems to help. He likes to hear your voice."

She broke down on the last bit, her small shoulders shaking hard as she sobbed. He looked up at her reluctantly – her eyes were a brilliant blue, he noticed, but they were rimmed in red and the bags underneath distracted a bit from the effect, but he could tell she was really probably very pretty under normal circumstances and she had loved his son so he was inclined to think well of her.

"Thank you, Miss French," he said. "I'm sure you've done the best job you could have under the circumstances, but I'm sure I can handle a baby."

She was practically a child herself, after all. It was for the best. She just wasn't old enough to raise a child on her own.

"Just...call me if he needs anything?" she said it as a question, and he could hear that she was desperate for a connection to the baby but he couldn't offer that.

"I can assure you," he replied. "That won't be necessary."

She bit her lip and nodded sadly, breaking out in fresh tears. She needed a clean break, and he wasn't about to share this baby with a stranger.

"Belle," Ruby whispered, hugging the smaller woman comfortingly. "I've gotta go get Bae set up at his house, but I'll call you tonight, okay?"

Miss French nodded and sniffled some more, but she seemed to be trying to make an effort to put on a good face as they left.

"You know," Ruby said to him as they approached the car. "She was the only one who would take your son on such short notice and she's spent three months caring for him like her own. You could have at least been nice to her."

He'd been unflinchingly polite to the girl, and had half a mind to tell Ruby as much when his son let out a noise of distress that captured his attention. He focused on calming the baby while Ruby checked and double-checked the infant seat in his car, and all too soon it was time to put his son into it and leave. It hurt to put the baby down, but it was the only way to get Bailey home. It was only for a little while, after all – his home was about fifteen minutes away from hers.

He saw Belle French standing at her door with a blanket wrapped half-heartedly around her small shoulders, watching him pull away with a hand pressed over her mouth. She was a perfect picture of grief, but he put that thought out of his mind as well. The important thing now was that he had his son, and they would be a family at last, albeit a very small one. That would be enough.

As he pulled away, Bailey chose that exact moment to start screaming.

The baby was broken, that was really all there was to it. He'd been screaming nearly non-stop since they got in the car, stopping only long enough to be fed at home. Bedtime had come and gone and Gold wished he'd maybe waited a day or two before claiming his son. Just long enough to read at least one book on the subject of parenting an infant because he was completely out of his depth and he knew it. He loved the baby so much it was physically painful, but he was at the point where he may have considered giving him back to the crying girl if he could get just five minutes of silence.

The crying girl! What had she been saying? Something about books and bathing? God, why hadn't he been listening to a word she said? She looked tired, but alive at least. Clearly she must have some idea of how to make Bailey stop.

Gold found a phone book before he could think better of it, flipping through to the F section and quickly locating a B. French. He refused to think about the fact that it was 11 o'clock at night, or that he'd basically ripped her heart out of her chest earlier that day. She was his only hope.

She answered with a groggy sounding hello, but he was unsure whether that was due to being woken up or if she was still crying. He wasn't sure which option made him feel worse.

"Miss French?" he said into the phone, as though anyone else might have answered.

"This is Belle French," she said warily. "Who's this?"

"Arthur Gold," he replied. "We met earlier today, I'm Bailey's father?"

"Is he okay?" she suddenly sounded quite alert.

"He's fine...well, I think he is anyway," he said with a sigh. "He won't stop crying, though, and I can't figure out why. I was wondering if you had any ideas."

"Did you give him a bath?"

"I tried, but it didn't really do much. He started again as soon as he got out of the tub."

"Did you use lavender scented oil?"

"No, should I have?"

"Babies like lavender," she explained. "It helps calm them down."

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask how the bloody hell he was supposed to have known that, but she was doing him a favor and he may need to call her again in the very near future.

"Where do I get that?" he asked instead.

"Um, the pharmacy," she said. "There's one open 24 hours on Main, they've got it there. They also have a baby lotion with the same scent that he likes."

"Anything else I might need to get while I'm there?"

"Yeah, lemme think," she made some humming noises to indicate she was thinking before she spoke again. "You'll want pacifiers, at least, baby shampoo, and diaper cream. Um...I'm going to assume you have receiving blankets already, but you want as many of those as you can get – they work for literally everything. I don't know...baby medicine like Tylenol and stuff, because you don't want to wait until he has a fever before you get it because you'll panic. A thermometer, too. He's a baby, it's not that hard, you just have to anticipate his needs."

He made a list this time, thankful for this little bit of help.

"How do I make him stop crying?" he said softly. It hurt to have to ask this, but he needed to.

"When did he start?"

"When we got in the car."

"He doesn't like cars too much," she explained. "He had an ear infection when I first got him and the doctor said the vibrations aggravated it. He's not in pain anymore but he still cries whenever he gets into the car."

"Oh, is there a way around that?"

"Not really, just keep making it as pleasant as possible and eventually he should get over it. You just have to break the association."

"Alright," he said finally. "Thank you. I guess I'll go get those things."

"Mr. Gold?"

"Yeah?"

"After the bath...he likes Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles before bed."

"The Beatles?"

"It's silly," he could practically hear her blushing. "But my mum used to sing it to me so I sang it to him."

"Oh," he felt chastened. She'd been the only mother Bailey really had, and he'd treated her like a babysitter to be sent home at the end of the day. "Miss French, I'm sorry. I should have paid more attention earlier when you were talking to me. I was just so consumed by having him finally..."

He caught himself before he continued, and it must have been exhaustion that had him babbling like this to a damn stranger but she was, at least, gracious about it.

"No, it's alright," she said. "I understand. It was so hard when they first gave him to me and he's such a beautiful baby. I'm very happy for you two."

"Thank you," he said. "I can tell you've done your best with him."

"It was just fostering," she replied and he could hear the sadness in her voice threatening to overwhelm her again. "He has a dad now, and I'm really, really so glad for him."

She was crying again, damn.

"Miss French," he said against his better judgment. "Is it alright if I call you again tomorrow? Just to make sure I'm keeping his routine?"

"Yeah," she sounded hopeful now. "Okay. I'd really like that. Really, call me if he needs anything okay? I'd like to know he's happy, that's all. Anyway, you should probably go get the lavender stuff..."

"I should," he agreed. He was going to be taking a screaming baby to a pharmacy in the middle of the night. There was really no reason to put this off longer than he had to.

He and Belle French made their goodbyes, and later that night as he was singing Here Comes The Sun and walking his baby back and forth in the hallway he knew that, at last, he had found a family.


	2. Chapter 2

Anonymous said:  
Adoption verse remix. The moment when Gold realizes a few phone calls aren't going to cut it.

anonymousnerdgirl said:  
Adoption!remix: Prior to taking custody or even properly finding out about Bae, Gold pays a visit to Milah. His insurance was billed for her hospital visit and delivery. The results of his investigation shock him.

Some quick notes: Everything that happened backstory wise in this 'verse applies to the other one and vice versa. So yeah, Milah gave Bae up because she was on drugs in BOTH stories and Belle's dad died right before she got Bae in both stories.

* * *

Belle French was surprisingly useful. Gold had found himself calling her every night for the last week. At first, it had just been for advice on Bailey – it turned out that babies were a lot harder than one might think, and books didn't always work because babies were all different. As a result, he'd ended up spending a lot more time calling to ask her questions than he'd thought he would. And then he'd spent a lot of time calling because he liked her company. She was surprisingly intelligent, and warm, and funny. He liked her. Oh, not like that – she wasn't even twenty-five yet, and he was in his late thirties with a son and a girlfriend. But still, it was nice to have someone who cared that Bailey wasn't quite sleeping through the night yet and the books said he should be.

So he invited her to dinner. Not as a date or anything, but she missed Bailey and he kind of wanted to see how she fed him because he wasn't sure he was doing it right. It seemed like there was a lot of spit-up. It wasn't even a fancy restaurant – those didn't really allow children – but she agreed to meet him and Bailey at a chain place that he was sure would be full of screaming children (including his own, which was a strange thought).

He hadn't seen her in person since he'd come to get his son, and he'd been right that she was pretty. On a full night's sleep, a recent shower, and a smile on her face she was beautiful. It actually took a few minutes for him to recognize her as the red eyed girl he'd been expecting.

"Mr. Gold," she said cheerfully, shaking his hand and sitting down. "Thanks for inviting me."

"No, no," he said, hating how dumbstruck he was at the sight of her. "I'm glad you came."

"Hi Bae..." she cooed, scooping the baby up and settling him on her lap facing her and holding him up. "Are you living with your daddy now?"

She was fascinating when she spoke to him. Her entire face lit up as she jiggled the baby. More interestingly, though, Bailey seemed happier to see her than he had been all day. He knew her voice, and as she fussed and sang and smiled and Bailey was giggling and reaching out for her hair and necklace. It was also a little relaxing to not be holding him for a few minutes. He hadn't quite realized how much he'd missed eating without little hands grabbing for his food.

"So how have you guys been doing?" she said, holding Bae to sit against her as she jiggled him on her knee.

"It's been a little rough," he admitted. "I'm still adjusting to his schedule."

"Oh, yeah he's definitely set in his ways," she replied, turning her attention to Bailey again. "Aren't you, Precious?"

Bailey answered by tangling chubby fingers in her long brown hair and tugging. She barely flinched, holding his wrist and unwinding him expertly.

"How have you been?" Gold asked, feeling unsettled. She was too fluent with his son, and he wasn't sure why that put him on edge. It was something special to see, and he almost felt like an interloper.

"Um, it's been an adjustment," she replied as she kissed Bae's hands. "I know I only had him for three months, but..." She trailed off sadly, before shaking her head and plastering a smile back on her face. "I'm getting a lot more work done, now, though."

"Really?" He was going to pretend he hadn't noticed her mood change. "What do you do?"

"Oh, I own a flower shop. Game of Thorns, on Main."

"Yes, I've seen it," he replied. "I own the pawn shop down the road, actually."

"Really? You're that Mr. Gold?"

"I see my reputation precedes me. I'm thinking of selling, though," he admitted. "Spend more time with Bailey."

She nodded.

"That would be great for both of you," she said. "I'd wanted to do the same, but I couldn't really afford it."

"So if you don't mind me asking," he asked, changing the subject to something a little more neutral. "How did you end up with a flower shop?"

"It was my father's," she replied, and her smile faltered again. "He died a few months ago. Just a little before I got Bae. The house was his, too."

He pretended not to notice as she swiped the tears from under her eyes and focused her attention on Bailey again. So much for a neutral topic.

Thankfully, the waitress arrived to take their orders and by the time she'd brought his ice water and Belle's ice tea, she'd returned to her earlier good cheer as she played with the baby. How long after her father died had she gotten Bailey? Did she have anyone else in her life? Oh, he was about to make a stupid decision.

"Miss French, I have something I need to ask," he blurted out before he could lose his nerve. "I don't actually have any family and I don't really have that many friends. If I were to need someone to watch him at some point...would you be interested?"

"Yeah," she said with a smile lighting up her pretty blue eyes. "I'd love to."

"Excellent. That's really, really excellent," and my wasn't he feeling articulate today?

They fell into an awkward silence again as he watched her with the baby some more. He really shouldn't be enjoying this as much as he was. The waitress finally arrived bearing food, and Belle dodged baby hands with aplomb as she ate her fries and her cheeseburger.

"Can I ask you kind of a personal question?" she finally said and he nodded in assent. "How did Bae end up with me?"

Well, that was a fair question. Uncomfortable, but fair.

"His mother," he finally said. "She gave him up."

"Why?"

"I don't honestly know," he admitted. "When we first met, we were happy. For a little while, at least. The last few years...I don't know, she was just so unhappy and then she met someone else and got involved in some things she shouldn't have. I think giving him up was one of the last lucid things she did."

It was an abridged version of the truth, and she had been holding Bae just a little tighter the whole time he told it, kissing his baby curls sweetly. It tugged his at heart, because she looked enough like Milah that Bailey could be hers, but instead his mother was drug addict who had lied about the father of her baby and then left him with strangers.

Milah had left his home as her billing address, and that was how he found out she'd given birth. He and the baby had shared the same blood type, and when he received the doctor's file and saw that the boy had dark eyes that had been the clincher. It took him another few weeks to track Milah down and get her admit that it was his, but by then Bailey was in the system. It still took another week and a paternity test to get to the day he had arrived on Belle French's doorstep with a social worker, but it had been worth it to see his son for the first time.

He wasn't sure he'd ever see anything more beautiful in his entire life than that first view of chocolate brown eyes and fuzzy dark curls. His son was so beautiful it hurt him sometimes.

"I've missed him," Belle said softly. "It's hard to imagine just giving him away."

"It's hard for me, too."

"I'm glad he'll be taken care of, though," she came back with. "I can tell you're a great dad. He's lucky to have you."

"You've been a big help," he replied. "I didn't exactly have time to do a lot of reading up on babies and those books are damn liars."

She giggled at that.

"You wouldn't believe the learning curve when I first got him. He was a month old, and he was colicky. I thought for sure I'd either die or go completely insane."

She had a smile on his face, but he couldn't imagine the trouble she must have had with an infant and no help at all. He was doing alright, but he'd been able to call her to answer his questions. Trying to do it alone must have been so, so scary.

His thoughts were interrupted by Bailey suddenly becoming fussy. Gold instantly was on edge, preparing to take his baby and check for whatever might possibly be wrong with him.

"Oh shoot," Belle said. "Do you have a bottle?"

"Yes!" he said quickly, digging through the bag he'd taken to carrying with him to pull out a bottle and the formula, preparing it quickly and reaching to take Bae. Of course he was hungry, it was lunch time!

"I don't mind feeding him," Belle replied. "If you want to keep eating."

He had no idea why he nodded, handing it over to her. She smiled as she took it, one arm holding the baby around his waist and the other holding a bottle for him.

"You're not going to be able to finish your burger," he said weakly.

"I've had burgers before," she replied with a shrug. "This is better."

That's when he realized he might be in over his head.


End file.
